SUDAN (ANS) -- There was a time in my life that I felt desperate to find meaning – something that made my existence deeper and larger in scale than the sum total of the average 77.7 years I might expect to be in this skin. In those days, I was always looking for adventure. It’s a curious thing how we often consider a person to be “free” and “live on the edge” simply because they pursue rock climbing, bungee jumping, hang gliding and all manner of life-risking adventure.

Suzanna

Now, having just returned from Sudan where the temperatures soared above 140 degrees Fahrenheit, my mind is steeping in real stories of life-risking adventure from those who consider themselves anything but “free.” Like Suzanna, who told me, “I am nine.” I asked her, “How do you know you are nine? Who told you that you are nine?” With a smile that could lure the moon to linger with the sun all day long, she said, “One day I told myself, ‘You are nine.’ So, I am nine.”

Suzanna is an orphan. When she very small, Suzanna was forced to watch the Arab militia brutally kill both her parents. The militia burned her family home, a small round mud structure with a grass roof. Suzanna tried to hang out near the market hoping to survive off of scraps she could steal or beg from local merchants. Desperate with no shelter and little food, it seemed her best hope for survival was to be taken as a slave. Now, there is life on the edge - filled with lots of life-risking adventure.

Then, there was Jesus. In the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew that if he submitted to God’s plan, it would cost him his life.

Big risk. Would it be worth it? Would we even accept the gift of His life for ours? Or would we reject Him and throw our lives away in pursuit of momentary happiness and comfort?

As I examine these three types of “life on the edge,” all three are full of adventure All three are full of risk and I find myself asking “So, what is the difference between them?”

Some people pay huge sums of money for a thrill, risking their lives for the sake of a fleeting feeling of freedom and adventure.

Some people find the prospect of life itself a risky venture and are willing to submit themselves to rape and slavery to get enough food to survive for yet one more tomorrow.

Then, there is the One who found victory through complete surrender, which involved a plan that would certainly cost His life with no guarantee that it would be successful, since it also involved creatures with Free Will to either chose to love or betray Him. Corrie Ten Boom calls this “the foolishness of God.” Big Risk. Life on the Edge, indeed.

The older I grow and the more I see of all three types of “risk,” the more I am in touch with the fact that I spent much of my early life pursuing the first type of risk (buying fleeting feelings of momentary freedom or adventure) out of a deep longing to find the third type of risk (sacrificial living with no guarantee of success), “the foolishness of God.”

Being willing to lay down one’s life for those trapped in the second type of risk (who have no hope but slavery), or financially investing in work that is constantly under militant threat is something that is so risky, it rests on the fringe of insanity – just shy enough of it that many call it simply “foolish.”

Thankfully, we have a great cloud of witnesses who showed us the way: Corrie Ten Boom (who saved countless Jews during the Holocaust, but was sent to a concentration camp), Brother Andrew (who risked his life to smuggle Bibles across forbidden borders to share Christ’s love), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (who deeply struggled with what the will of God in a broken world had to do with how he must spend his life) just to name a few.

Perhaps, the best “edge” to live on is where our comfort ends and another’s life begins. So if you find yourself longing to live a bit more on the “edge,” try hanging out with Suzanna and her friends awhile. I think you’ll find just what you’re looking for.

Suzanna and many of her friends need a sponsor to make their lives a little less “risky.” We are also currently taking applications for January/February 2010 mission trips (exact dates not set until late summer 09.)

Kimberly L. Smith is President of Make Way Partners, a Christian mission agency committed to prevent and combat human trafficking and all forms of modern–day slavery by educating and mobilizing The Body of Christ. My family and I first discovered modern-day slavery while serving as missionaries in the Iberian Peninsula. There, we learned the grotesque truth about thousands of young women and children who are trafficked from war-torn Africa and impoverished Eastern Europe. You can reach Make Way Partners at  http://www.makewaypartners.org/